Love Symptoms
by QuEen0fs0ng
Summary: Shizuo suspects he's developing feelings for his employer, Tom Tanaka. He wonders if he can ever work up the courage to tell him. XD Warning: boys loving boys. just a friendly warning
1. Chapter 1

Shizuo took a long drag of his cigarette. Then he exhaled. He paused as if in thought with the cigarette still in his mouth.

For many people the thought of Shizuo Heiwajima standing around doing nothing and not trying to kill anyone with his ungodly strength wouldn't make sense to them. Most people from Ikebukuro would agree that Shizuo's name was synonymous with unbridled brutality meant to kill.

However the focus of this story is not what the general public thought of our blonde-headed man in a bartender get-up. This story is focusing on Shizuo's thoughts. More specifically, we are focusing on Shizuo's thoughts about his employer and long-time friend from middle school, Tom Tanaka.

At this particular moment, Shizuo is confused. He remembered faintly what a crush felt like because he remembered having one for the nice shop owner who had given him and his brother, Kasuka, milk.

The word "crush" had within itself several different meanings for Shizuo. It was a more rapid heartbeat whenever the object of his affections drew near. It was feeling his face heat up whenever they graced him with a smile. It was a wish for that person to feel the same about him as he did about them. But more than any of those other things, it was a desire to keep that person safe no matter what.

Now, Shizuo was no doctor and he didn't claim to be one. However he was pretty sure that he could diagnose lovesickness with that list of symptoms.

He was also man enough to admit that he suffered from all of these symptoms. And since he can admit that much he can admit that he's in love.

It was the person that elicited these feelings and thoughts from him that confused him. He couldn't quite understand why it was his employer Tom Tanaka. But then after some thought he could understand it perfectly. But then he would think of something else and the whole idea would send his mind in turmoil again.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a familiar rider clad in black on an equally familiar black bike ride toward him on the vacant street he was now standing near.

"Yo, Celty." Shizuo greeted.

Celty saw him and brought her motorcycle to a stop next to her friend. She got out her cell phone and started to type a response. [_Hey Shizuo. What are you doing out here so late?]_

Shizuo sighed and said, "I don't know. Thinking I guess."

[_About what?_]

Upon reading that Shizuuo sighed. He didn't know if he should tell her. He didn't have things straightened out himself yet. But he also regarded Celty as a very wise person so maybe she could help him.

He took another drag of his cigarette for courage and decided to tell her.

"It's just that, y'know… I was thinking about… stuff like – y'know – about m-me and Tom-san. And I-I think that I might – y'know – like him… like a little more than just as friends. But it's so freakin' weird, right?" his voice was building in agitation. "Because he's my boss and I'm his freakin' body guard! Plus we're both full-grown men. Like the two of us walkin' down the street holding hands and… and kissing…."

As he had finished the sentence he had grown less agitated and more thoughtful as an image of the two of them actually holding hands. That didn't sound too bad to him. And neither did the kissing part.

Celty could see a blush form on Shizuo's face. She thought it was rather cute and told him so.

Shizuo immediately tried to cover his face by pretending to adjust his sunglasses and said, "Sh-shut up."

Celty tapped away on her keyboard and when she finally showed Shizuo the screen he almost fell over backwards in shock.

[_Why not confess to him then? You seem to really like him.]_

"Are you crazy?" Shizuo almost yelled. "I don't know how he would react. I don't think I could take it if he got mad at me and fired me."

[_Would he do that to you?]_

"W-well I don't know. I don't think he would." So many thoughts and none of them pleasant flew and teased him in his head. "B-but I just don't know!"

Celty could tell that Shizuo was getting frustrated and she didn't want that. Heck, none of Ikebukuro wanted Shizuo to get frustrated because that normally led to anger and that normally led to billions in property damage and lots of broken bones.

She decided to switch to a different tactic.

[_I don't think he would. He's been your friend since middle school right? He wouldn't give up on you now just because you harbor feelings for him. And who knows he could secretly harbor feelings for you too.]_

She couldn't quite read the expression on Shizuo's face. Was it disbelief? Fear? Anxiety?...Hope?

"R-Really…?"

[_You'll never know if you don't try, Shizuo._] She refrained from saying "What's the worst that could happen?" because obviously he's put too much thought into that already and he didn't need a reminder.

"… I guess you're right." He gave her a shy smile. "Thanks. I feel like I can always count on you."

[_You and I aren't that different. That's why. Good luck. And remember he's your friend.]_

The blush returned to his face but his smile grew a bit wider. Celty waited a little bit to make sure there wasn't anything else. Since he didn't say anything else, she typed [_Well see you later.]_ and rode off.

Shizuo watched her go and took one last drag of his cigarette. He dropped it on the ground and stepped on it. He then turned on his heels to go home. All the while trying to muster up the courage to talk about his feelings with Tom.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Yay Chapter Two! Thanks to everyone who's reading this and supporting this pairing. Call me crazy but I personally can't get enough of this pairing and am disappointed that there are so little fanfics of these two. Oh well. Like a famous person once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." ohohohohohoho. So enjoy the next part of Love Symptoms where Shizuo gets closer to Tom. **_

"S-so please go out with me?" Shizuo finally got out.

Tom looked at Shizuo from his spot on the couch. Tom then looked off to the side with a finger to his lips as if considering something. He turned back to Shizuo with a blank expression and said, "I'd give that one about a six out of ten."

"What? But Tom-san I said everything you told me to say. I even said all of that mushy crap like 'You're the moon' and – and 'I care about you more than life itself' and all that other shit. How could you say it was only a six out of ten?"

"Yeah but Shizuo you were way too nervous. You kept stuttering through the whole thing."

Now if you're confused, you must understand the context in which Shizuo is confessing to Tom. In this context Shizuo knew he didn't have the courage to confess to Tom directly so he wanted to practice first. But he also didn't want to sound like an idiot and wanted some advice on how to confess to someone.

He doesn't really have any other friends besides Tom or Celty and he doubted that Celty would know how to make a good confession or be honest with him if he said something stupid. He knew he could always count on Tom to be dependable, have lots of advice about anything, and be completely honest with him. And it was because of all of those things that Shizuo was in love with Tom and hence found himself in his current situation.

He was back at their apartment ("their" meaning Shizuo's and Tom's since they live together because Shizuo is after all Tom's bodyguard) at an ungodly hour of the night and standing in front of a pajama-wearing Tom.

Of course Shizuo didn't mind that Tom was wearing pajamas. He sort of liked it because Tom seemed slightly different and slightly more relaxed when he wasn't wearing his usual business outfit. He was wearing a pair of plaid flannel pants, a white T-shirt and he had his hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. And if Shizuo was that kind of guy he would have even described it as "cute." However Shizuo was not that kind of guy and if anyone tried to tell him otherwise, rest assured, Shizuo would break bones with very heavy road signs.

Tom continued, "Girls don't like stuttering. They like guys who are articulate and can sweep them off their feet into a magical world of princes and true love and all that jazz."

Before he could stop himself, Shizuo heard himself saying, "I never said it was a girl."

Tom stared at him, wide-eyed and clearly shocked. Shizuo was mortified. He had just come out to his boss haphazardly. Shizuo covered his mouth as if he could take the words back.

But unbeknownst to Shizuo, the gears were turning in Tom's head trying to make sense of what he'd just heard. And despite Shizuo's apparent embarrassment Tom's mouth very slowly quirked upwards in a smirk. His raised his eyebrow quizzically and asked, "Oh? Is that right?"

Shizuo turned his head away from Tom. He was relieved that Tom didn't find him "disgusting" or "immoral" like how all of the people perceive the homosexual hero in all of those dramatic and "overcoming-hardships-and-discrimination" Lifetime movies.

But he was disconcerted with that smirk. He'd never seen Tom look at him like that before. It was suggestive, knowing and almost…sexy.

He swallowed trying to get enough saliva in his mouth which had somehow become dry. When he trusted himself to speak he replied still not looking at Tom, "Yeah. That's right."

He then heard Tom ask him, "And tell me again what this person's like?"

Shizuo thought he heard restrained laughter in that question which made him even more embarrassed.

"Tom-san, don't laugh at me. It's hard enough just talking about this kind of stuff…"

He stole a glance at Tom and could see he was trying to cover up his laughter by pretending to clear his throat. When he composed himself Tom looked at Shizuo and smiled. Shizuo quickly looked away again and refused to meet Tom's eyes afraid he'd give himself away.

"Sorry, Shizuo. I'm just happy that you've found someone you like and are going out of your way to make this relationship happen." Then he paused and leaned an elbow on the armrest of the couch and rested the side of his face in his hand. "He must be something."

Shizuo smiled a little and said wistfully, "Yeah, he is something."

Tom's smile grew wider and he asked, "Is he handsome?"

Shizuo blushed and nodded, "Yeah, I think he is."

"Is he charming?"

Shizuo wrinkled his nose in thought. "I don't know about that… I guess so."

Tom chuckled. "Is he sexy?"

Shizuo blushed a deeper red and said, "U-uhm… I d-don't know… I guess."

This time Tom did nothing to conceal his laughter. It rang out in the samll apartment they shared. Shizuo, despite himself, allowed himself to chuckle as well.

"Well then," Tom said after his fit of hysterics passed, "since you're batting for the other team, that changes the playing field now, doesn't it, Shizuo?"

Shizuo scowled at his employer, "Stop making fun of me."

Tom grinned at him, "I'm not making fun of you, honest. I'm just saying that since it's not a girl you're trying to impress, that it deserves a different tactic."

Shizuo turned back to Tom and nodded awaiting what type of advice Tom would give him.

When he saw that he had Shizuo's undivided attention, Tom got up and walked toward Shizuo. He stopped not unbelievably close but closer than normal. Tom looked him in the eye and said, "You don't have to say all of that mushy crap because it doesn't mean anything, right? I don't think he'd want that."

Shizuo was confused. He said, "But, Tom-san, you told me to say all that mushy crap before you knew it wasn't a girl. And –"

Tom cut him off, "yeah but girls like to hear meaningless things. Have you ever heard of the phrase 'whispering sweet-nothings'? Same principle. Besides," Tom looked suddenly very seriously at Shizuo, "this guy's important to you, right?"

Shizuo blushed under the intense gaze and said barely above a whisper, "Y-yeah."

Tom's look softened a little and said, "Then you shouldn't tell him stupid staged shit that came from someone else. Just tell him exactly how you feel and exactly how you would say it." Tom's look softened even more until he looked completely relaxed and said with a strange glint in his eye, "I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

Shizuo nodded. Tom smiled and reached up to pat Shizuo on the shoulder. The contact was brief but conveyed all of the support Tom had for his tall, easily-angered, and incredibly shy friend. Tom made to walk past Shizuo so he could get to his bedroom and said, "Well it's getting really late. Let's call it a night for now. We still have work tomorrow, you know."

Shizuo nodded once more and thought of something. He turned around toward Tom and said, "Wait."

Tom turned around. There was something in his expression that Shizuo couldn't quite make out. He thought it looked something like anticipation for something. Shizuo shrugged it off and said to himself _Well, yeah he's waiting for me to keep talking since I told him to wait._

Shizuo then asked, "When do you think would be a good time to tell him? Like should there be a type of atmosphere or something? Like fireworks? Or something?"

Tom's strange expression melted into a smile. He chuckled as if he was chuckling at the ignorance of a small child. "It doesn't have to be anything special like that. Just tell him when you're ready, Shizuo."

With that, Tom turned and went into his bedroom. "Now get some sleep Shizuo. I can tell we're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Tom closed the door. And Shizuo fiddled for a cigarette from his pocket and said to the empty room, "Tell me about it."

**_soooo tell me what you think. Tell me if it sucks. Tell me if it's good. Or tell me nothing. *kisses* the next chapter will be up soon. I don't know if I'm going to drag it out to another chapter after that but it's possible. _**


	3. Chapter 3

**_So this is the last chapter! YAY! I have to make a not that I used Bad Religion song lyrics in this chapter. So don't sue me and if you figure out where I'll give you a cupcake. And thanks again for everyone's nice reviews and the people who have been following the story and supporting the pairing. Let's make this a TomxShizuo world! Together! For the children!_**

**_So enjoy!_**

And before anyone knew it, the sun was once again sharing it's warm morning rays with Ikebukuro. The streets were once again busy with people going to and from work, the local gang members making mischief, and…

…what kind of day in Ikebukuro would it be without Shizuo tearing up the streets in a fit of insane rage?

Shizuo seemed especially on edge today, and nobody was safe. Normally it wouldn't take a lot to send the blonde man over the edge but that short distance seemed invariably to be cut in half.

Instead of getting mad at you for saying something wrong, if you looked at him the wrong way you would be sent flying. If you bumped into him by accident, your face would briefly meet Shizuo's fist but then become well acquainted with the pavement. And God forbid you did either of those things to Tom. You would do better to (if we were to use the great philosopher's, Greg Graffin, words) "put your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye."

All anyone could do to not evoke the wrath of Shizuo Heiwajima was to look down at the sidewalk and hope they wouldn't have the misfortune of owing Tom money today. And anyone who had borrowed money from Tom walked around as if they were on death row. The poor bastards.

Even the normally calm, cool and collected Tom Tanaka seemed unsteady. Some might've even said he was nervous. But about what the citizens of Ikebukuro had no way of knowing. But it had been a few hours since his last tirade. Maybe he was done for the day.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Shizuo was mad. No that was an understatement. Shizuo was seething with a rage that would be comparable to the wrath of the devils of hell for being estranged from paradise. No that was STILL AN UNDERSTATEMENT!

WHATEVER! FORGET IT! HE WAS JUST PISSSED OFF!

Especially at this scene that was playing out before him.

The day had gone by normally, except for a few people that pissed him off and had to be dealt with but that was just common day occurrences now. That is until they'd shown up at the red-light district in Ikebukuro. Tom had said there were a few people who owed money here too.

But it couldn't stay normal and uneventful. Of course not. Something had to just make Shizuo so pissed off he couldn't think about anything else.

Currently they were meeting with a male prostitute. His name was Hiroshi and owed them more money than any other client they had. He'd always tried to weasel out of it somehow. But this particular tactic that Hiroshi had adapted made Shizuo's blood boil.

But you shouldn't blame Shizuo. You'd be mad too if your boss and secret crush was being manhandled by a gorgeous twenty-something experienced prostitute whose job was to make any person's sexual fantasy come true. Especially if upon seeing that you suffered from an inferiority complex and began to feel threatened like Shizuo did.

"Hiroshi, please. You've been six months late with your first debt and have been borrowing more money from us since then." At least Tom didn't seem to be taking the bait.

Hiroshi at this point had his arm wrapped around Tom's back and was staring up at him with a suggestive smile. "You know I hate all this talk about business, Tommy." Shizuo's eye twitched. _TOMMY? _

And from where Shizuo was standing he could see the callboy's hands roam all around Tom's back. "Why don't you and I go somewhere more comfortable so we can just forget about everything else?"

Shizuo's eyes followed Hiroshi's hands as they went down. "Doesn't that sound nice?" They went lower and lower until they rested on Tom's rear.

Tom jumped a little. Not at the contact because he'd known where Hiroshi was going with his hands. A lot of people had attempted to seduce him in lieu of paying him back over the course of his career being a debt collector so he knew what to expect from those types of people.

But he thought he had heard or perhaps rather felt something snap…

He turned his head toward Shizuo and found that he had broken his cigarette and proceeded to throw it on the ground and stomp on it.

Shizuo was glaring at the prostitute with all the heat and intensity he could muster (that's a lot by the way) and said, "You… Someone like you shouldn't touch Tom-san! You have no right to call him by those stupid nicknames either!"

Shizuo hates violence, but he was going to love beating the hell out of this whore. Then there was a voice in the back of his head saying, _Should get Tom-san out of the way first._

So Shizuo wrapped an arm around Tom and slung him over his shoulder while his other arm reached for the nearest road sign. He wrapped his fingers around the metal and it crumpled under his grip. The sound it emitted was satisfying so Shizuo allowed himself an evil wicked grin that split his face in half.

From the look on Hiroshi's face, Shizuo could tell that he was terrified and extremely sorry that he had touched Tom in inappropriate places. But for Shizuo that wasn't good enough. He had to make sure this never happened again.

In a gravelly harsh tone that Shizuo saved only for his victims, he said, "So guess what happens now."

He pulled the sign back, let out a blood curdling battle cry and swung. After the horrifying sound of bones cracking, all of Ikebukuro would be able to see Hiroshi flying through the air at amazing speed.

A couple football fields away, Hiroshi landed with a thump. Shizuo's crazy smile vanished and in its place was a scowl. He tossed the road sign to the side and tried to get another cigarette from his pocket. That is until he heard Tom say, "Shizuo, you can let me down now."

At that point Shizuo realized three things. 1. He still had Tom slung over his shoulder. 2. Shizuo's hand was resting on Tom's butt. And 3. Tom had a nice ass.

Shizuo spluttered and slowly put Tom back to the ground, muttering several apologies and turning several shades of red. After he had let go of Tom, Shizuo almost immediately afterward put his hands in his pockets.

Shizuo dared a look at Tom. But Tom's face didn't hold any emotion he was just staring blankly back at Shizuo. They stood like that staring at each other for awhile. Shizuo didn't know what to do so he just kept staring. Tom was the first to crack.

It started with snickering. Then Tom started to laugh out loud. Shizuo felt something tickling in the back of his head too, encouraging him to laugh with his friend. So he did.

They both turned and started walking down the street laughing their heads off and they didn't even know why. Something like that should've been followed by something awkward. Like an awkward silence. Or an awkward change of topic signifying that it would never come up in conversation again. But since they were both laughing, it was okay.

After they're whooping laughter subsided into giggles, Tom asked, "Why're you laughing?"

Shizuo replied in between breaths, "Because you are. Why're you laughing?"

"Because…because you're face was so funny." Laughs. Laughs. Laughs.

A thought suddenly came to Shizuo. Would now be a good time to tell Tom how he felt? He didn't want to ruin the mood. He didn't think this would be the place or the atmosphere to do it. They were in the middle of Ikebukuro in broad daylight and people were already looking at the pair of them like they were lunatics. It was hardly the romantic setting that he pictured.

But Tom did say that he should confess whenever he felt ready and to say exactly what he would say. It may have just been that his body was still pumping adrenaline through his system from sending the prostitute flying or from all the endorphins that his body had supplied him with that made him laugh. But he felt like he could tell Tom.

They were both still laughing when Tom heard Shizuo say, "Hey, Tom-san?"

Tom turned to him, wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so hard and said, "Yeah?"

"I love you. So go out with me."

Tom looked at Shizuo and without skipping a beat said, "Okay."

Shizuo blinked. That wasn't exactly what he had expected. Maybe he didn't hear him right?

"But… I just said 'I love you.' Shouldn't you react more or be more surprised?"

Tom smiled and took Shizuo's hand in his own. Shizuo looked down and stared at their hands linked together. He'd never admit it but he often had day dreams where he would imagine what it would feel like to hold Tom's hand. He then decided that the real thing was exponentially better than his day dreams. Tom said, "Why? I already knew. You wear your heart on your sleeve, Shizuo. It's not that hard to figure out what you're feeling."

Shizuo blushed and asked, "But if you knew, why didn't you say anything?"

Tom reached up and gently rubbed his thumb against Shziuo's cheek. Shizuo also decided that this was better than all his day dreams put together. "Because," Tom replied, "you've never really had a relationship before and this was a big step for you. I didn't want to take this big step for you. I wanted you to do it on your own."

"Oh." Shizuo said simply. When Tom dropped his hand and turned around to continue walking, Shizuo said, "Well this is kind of anti-climactic, isn't it?"

Tom raised an eyebrow at Shizuo and smiled that sexy smirk of his. "Oh?" he asked.

Shizuo nodded his head. "Yeah."

Tom let go of Shizuo's hand to reach up and wrap his fingers behind Shizuo's neck. He brought his other hand up to take off his glasses. Then Tom said in a low voice, "Let's fix that shall we?"

Shizuo then thought briefly how close Tom was getting. But then he couldn't think at all. Tom had lightly pressed their lips together in a simple kiss. Then it was over. Tom pulled away and was still smiling at him. Shizuo didn't know what to do or think. He was pretty sure his knees would give out underneath him any second now. And he was also pretty sure he didn't care.

"How's that?" Tom asked.

"Better." Shizuo replied.

He very quickly wrapped his arms around Tom and brought their bodies to press up against each other, almost as if trying to reassure himself it wasn't a dream that would vanish any second. He nuzzled into Tom's neck and sighed with contentment. He was never going to let go of Tom.

"Shizuo, we need to get back to work…" he heard Tom say. _Well, _Shizuo thought to himself, _I won't let him go figuratively._ So reluctantly Shizuo released the older man.

Tom gave him a comforting smile and began to walk. "Let's get it over and done with quickly so we can get back home faster."

Shizuo looked at his employer and now lover confused. "W-why do you want to get home early?"

Tom turned around with that same sexy smile plastered on his face. "Because I want some Shizuo-lovins as soon as I can get 'em." Then he laughed to himself and said, "And if you think that's going to be anti-climactic, so help me..."

Shizuo blushed and swallowed. Now he wanted to get home early too.

:::::::::::::::::::::

And somewhere else in the vast city of Ikebukuro sometime later, one Erika Karisawa shivered as if she'd seen a ghost. Her friends Walker, Kadota and Togusa stopped and turned around.

Walker asked her, "Erika, what's wrong? Are you catching a cold?"

Kadota said, "If you're not feeling good then we can just pack it in for the day."

Erika looked up at them with the scariest face they'd ever seen on her. It was like she'd witnessed something horrifying but was incredibly pissed off about it. "No… I'm not getting a cold…" she replied in a weak voice.

Walker was starting to really worry about his best friend by now. He said, "Th-then what is it? What's wrong?"

She turned her face away and said in a barely audible voice, "I sense a disturbance in the Shizaya force… Someone is getting some Shizuo-lovins and it isn't Izaya."

The rest of her team blanched. That is until they screamed in chorus, "THAT'S NOT IT!"

_**I hope you apprecieated the Star Wars reference, all my fellow Star Wars nerds. Anyway tell me what you think. *kisses***_


End file.
